The Life and Love of Lily Evans
by Cinnamon1
Summary: Basically a MWPP story. (My first fan fic ever!!!) REVEIW!!! I'm not putting up a new chapter until I have 20 reveiws!
1. Summer of '71

Prologue

In later years, Lily would always think of the summer of '71 as the summer that changed her life. Her twin sister, fraternal not identical, Petunia received a letter. It accepted her to Bradsmore, a very highly regarded private school that was very hard to get into. For a while both Petunia and Lily were disappointed that Lily hadn't gotten into Bradsmore also. 

Before they could mope long Lily got a letter in green ink. It showed her a world of wonder that neither twin had ever imagined. Hardly any time after she had time for that shock to settle in, she received her acceptance letter from Bradsmore. She was torn. She had been to visit Diagon Alley and had seen the wonders that magic could do. She loved her sister dearly though, and wanted to go to school with her. 

She waited a few weeks to see if a letter for Petunia came from Hogwarts, but the letter never came. She was at odds trying to figure out which school to go to. She finally opted to go to Hogwarts. She would try it for a year and then see if she liked it. If she didn't, then she would go to Bradsmore and work hard 'till she got caught up on her studies. Petunia agreed on the idea, and thought it wouldn't matter either way. With her going to Bradsmore, they would have lots of fun together. With her a Hogwarts they could make their own images, and not judged on how their sister acts, Petunia also thought it would be fun to have a sister who could curse the snobby kids, and charm the cute guys into liking her.

So both twins set off to their new schools not knowing what they would encounter. They thought no matter the distance, they would always be friends. They had no idea how wrong they were. 


	2. Cats

I'm so excited, I'm actually writing a story __

I'm so excited, I'm actually writing a story!!! I hope I do okay… Anyway…I have to thank my beta reader, [Lily White][1]_. _

Disclaimer: I don't own anything yet. Lily Evans, Petunia Evans, James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Hogwarts, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Slytherin, Sickles, Knuts, Galleons, Muggle, Arabella Figg, Professor Albus Dumbledore, Professor Minerva McGonagall, Poppy Pomfrey, Severus Snape, Lucius Malfoy, Amos Diggory, Gildory Lockhart, Billius Weasley, Mundungus Fletcher, and anyone or anything else I forgot to mention all belong to J.K. Rowling. I own everything you don't recognize.

*~*

Lily had never been shy, until now. She was surrounded by kids who had grown up knowing how to do magic. She had never been at the top of her class, and she didn't think she would get very far along here either. As she sat down in an empty compartment, she wondered how she would make it through a whole year. 

Before she had time to ponder this question, a girl with chocolate brown hair came strolling in. 

"Hello," said the brunette. "I'm Sarah, what's your name?"

"Lily," she answered timidly, "Are you parents a wizard and witch?"

"Nah," replied Sarah non chantilly, "My mom was a sorceress, completely different from a witch."

"Oh," said Lily, feeling awkward for not knowing what the difference was.

"Before I forget, have you seen a purple cat?" question Sarah.

"What? A purple cat? No." replied a very confused Lily. "How do you have a purple cat?"

"I tried to do a spell to turn it's eyes purple, but she turned purple instead." grinned Sarah. "I think I know what I did wrong, can I try it on your cat?"

Lily clutched her cat, Merlin, close to her. "Um, I don't want to have a purple cat, or have a cat with purple eyes."

Sarah shrugged, "Your loss. I think I'll try the spell again when I find him."

As Lily was pondering the advantages of having a cat with purple eyes, two boys came bounding in, both with midnight-black hair. One had black eyes, while the other sported a deep brown.

"Hello," said the black-eyed boy, "I'm Sirius, and this is James," pointing to the brown-eyed boy. "We kinda just found out what happens if you put hair die in pumpkin juice."

"What happens? Did it explode or something?"

"No, but if you drink it your hair turns a lovely shade of green." _(A/N I know hair die is most likely poisonous, but hey, that's just details…)_

"So, if someone comes in here looking for us you haven't seen us, got it?" said James narrowing his eyes.

"Whatever," replied Sarah rolling her eyes, "Have you seen a purple cat lately? Like in the past hour or so?"

Before either of the boys could answer there was a knock on the door. They both ducked behind a seat. Lily walked over and slid open the compartment door. There was a fat witch standing there pushing a cart.

"Hello my dear, would you like some snacks?" asked the witch politely. Lily hadn't even had time to open her mouth before both of the boys had come bounding out from behind the seat. They dashed out into the aisle between compartments and started going through the food and candy that the witch was selling.

Lily was heading out to get some snacks when Sarah said," Buy me some stuff too while you're out there." Lily agreed and walked out of the compartment.

Lily had never seen any of the candy that was displayed on the cart before in her life. She decided that if the boys liked it, it wouldn't hurt to try the food. She also bought extra for Sarah. She forked over 17 galleons, 13 sickles and 3 knuts to the witch.

Lily arrived back into the compartment and dumped all of the food onto a empty chair. She sat down opposite Sirius and next to Sarah. The boys had already started trading food. She was about to join in when Merlin jumped into her arms. She was placing him back onto the floor when she noticed he was blue!

"Sarah!" Lily screamed, "I told you to leave my cat alone!"

Sarah grinned and replied," You said not to turn your cat _purple _you didn't say anything about _blue_."

Lily groaned and muttered, "You should have at least got the spell right, blue eyes wouldn't have been as bad as a blue cat."

"Well the spell did kinda work." Sarah replied, still grinning, "His eyes are blue too."

Lily looked into Merlin's eyes with horror. They matched his fur perfectly. She looked over at her newfound friends, and couldn't decide if this was going to be the best or the worst year of her life.

__

*~*

That's the end of my first chapter. From now on the new chapters will be more or less a week apart. I'll try and make it longer next time. Please R/R.

   [1]: http://www.fanfiction.net/index.fic?action=Directory-AuthorProfile&UserID=46668



	3. The Sorting

Lily was climbing out of the train when she realized it was raining __

Such original titles…Sorry this came out so late!!! I will really try harder to get them out earlier next time… Anyway this chapter is basically just the Sorting, and she makes another friend…

*~*

Lily was climbing out of the train when she realized it was raining. It was too late for her to go back for her cloak so she faced the rain and followed the rest of the first years over to a man who was calling them. He first impression was that this must be what a giant looked like.

"Don't be scared, that's just Hagrid," a voice whispered into her ear. Lily spun around and saw a boy with brown hair and eyes to match standing behind her. He looked like a character from a movie with his hair and clothes soaking wet. 

"My name's Remus." he said.

"I-I'm Lily," she said taken back by his forwardness.

"C'mon, we need to follow the rest of the first years." Remus said grasping her hand a pulling her along behind her. 

"Yeh'll get yer fis' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called back to the first years, "jus' round this bend here." When Lily and Remus came around the bend Lily was awestruck. They were standing on the edge of a vast, black, lake. On the other side of it, there was a castle with more towers and turrets then Lily had seen in her life. The windows were reflecting the last glow of sunset. The sky itself was a deep purple with a hint of red at the horizon. The starry sky was sparkling above and reflecting on the lake. Lily had never, or would ever, see anything as magnificent as her first sight of Hogwarts.

"No more'n four to a boat," called Hagrid. Lily climbed into a boat with Remus, James, and Sirius. As they moved across the smooth lake, Lily never took her eyes off of Hogwarts. She had no idea it would be like this. Before she knew it they had come to a muddy bank and all of the students were piling out. They followed Hagrid silently to a huge wooden door. Hagrid knocked the brass knocker three times and waited for the door to open.

"That will be all Hagrid," said the lady who answered the door. She had black hair swept back into a bun. She couldn't have been older than 30. Torches led the way as walked across the Entrance Hall. Lily glanced across at Sarah as saw she was as nervous as she was.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," said Professor McGonagall, "You are about to be sorted into your house. Your house members will become like family to you. You will eat, sleep, and learn with your house members. Free time will be spent in your house common room. Your triumphs will earn points for your house, while any failure will lose points. The Sorting Ceremony will begin shortly. Please straighten yourself from your ride here," said Professor McGonagall eyeing James's hair and another girls disarrayed hat.

As the nervous first years were led into the Great Hall, they were mumbling about themselves of what was about to happen. Where the older students looking at them with pity? Or was it just the way the light made them look? Many of the first years were taken of guard when a hat sitting upon a stool began to sing loudly. When the hat was done with its song, Professor McGonagall stepped up to the front of the room and picked up a scroll. She began to read off names.

"Abbott, Timothy!"

A very nervous looking boy stepped up to the stool and sat down. He placed the hat upon his head and saw one last look at the entire student body watching him, as the hat fell over his head. A few seconds past when the hat yelled out "HUFFLEPUFF!" A table on the left started cheering loudly as the scared looking boy went and sat down by them. Lily dimly noticed that most of the girls seemed to be wearing yellow accessories. She looked at the other tables and saw it was the same, but different colors like, blue, red, and green, with only a few acceptions. 

"Black, Sirius" was called out, and she watched as her new found friend gathered his courage and walked forward. 

"Most likely he is really hating his last name right now," Lily thought, "I'm glad I'm a little further down in the alphabet."

She crossed her fingers as he sat down on the stool. He had barely put the hat on his head when it called out "GRYFFINDOR!" She smiled as Sirius looked relived and sat down with the cheering table.

"Brocklehurst, Amy" went to Hufflepuff, but then "Brown, Elizabeth" went to Ravenclaw. Lily watched as the hat took almost a full minute to send "Canjar, Lindsey" to Gryffindor. She began to wonder how long it would take to decide on her.

When "Evans, Lily" was called out, Remus quickly squeezed her shoulder and she slowly walked forward. Her hands were shaking so bad she could barely put the hat on her head. Her last glimpse was of the nervous first years looking at her, making her even more nervous.

"Well." A quiet voice said into her ear. "Talented, and very loyal, but also quite sharp. Oh quite courageous too. Nice combination, fun to see how you use it. Maybe Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff, even Gryffindor is a possibility---"

Lily was desperately thinking _Gryffindor_,_ Gryffindor!_

"Gryffindor, huh, Ravenclaw would always be a nice spot for you but if you insist…"GRYFFINDOR!

Although the hat had yelled the last word to the whole student body, it hadn't sounded all that loud to her. A cheer went up from the Gryffindor table, and she joined Sirius, who grinned at her and scooted over for her to sit down.

Lily barely even watched the rest of the people get sorted. James, Remus and Sarah all ended up in Gryffindor too.

When "Zakar, Michael" was made a Slytherin, Lily realized he was the last one, and started to get hungry. The gold platters scattered all over the table suddenly filled with food. Lily dished her plate up with food, and looked across the table at James. He was already scarfing down his food. She grinned slightly and started eat too, and talking with other people at the table. Somehow, the conversation had turned to ways to smuggle dragons across borders. One kid, Levi, seemed to know a ton on the subject, and dominated the conversation.

It seemed as though the night flew on wings; it was over so quick. Before she knew it, she was stumbling half asleep up a flight of stairs next to Sarah. Portraits on the walls were looking at them and pointing. Some were even switching frames to talk to each other. 

The group of Gryffindors finally arrived at a portrait of a fat lady in a pink, silk, dress. An older student said, "dog fight" and the portrait swung open to reveal a circular room. The room was full of comfy armchairs and couches. They were all in a scarlet red color. They were pointed in the right direction to their dormitories, and they all slowly climbed the stairs. The room was circular also, and obviously a tower. There were beds all in a line, and they all had scarlet hangings on the beds. The girls were to tired to talk so they pulled on their pajama's and crawled into their sheets.

The last thoughts Lily had before she fell asleep were, "I wonder how Sarah, Remus, Sirius, James, and I all got into the same house. Weird coincidence, or maybe it was fate…"

*~*

__

Okay that was the chapter… There wasn't much dialog in it. I'll try and put more in the next chapter. PLEASE REVIEW!!! I need to know what you think… And I'll try to get the next chapter out soon…


	4. While they were Away

Read the Authors note at the end.  
  
*~*  
  
  
  
Throughout the first week of school, Lily was constantly amazed at how Sirius and James could come up with so many excuse for not doing their homework.  
  
"My owl ate my homework."  
  
"My homework ate my owl."  
  
"I was in a fight with another kid who thought you weren't the best teacher."  
  
"I went to the Hospital Wing 'cause I though I had cancer, turns out it was a bad Every Flavor Bean."  
  
"It's the thought that counts, right?"  
  
Lily and Sarah got more exasperated at every try to get out of homework. To both of their amazement's, Sirius and James both aced the tests that they took. They didn't even mind getting detention. Even the Professors were amused at their antics. When Remus, James and Sirius were in Professor Dumbledore's office for switching the labels on Professor Jenkin's potions supplies, Dumbledore said for them to tell the truth. Remus, who had watched a lot of muggle movies, yelled "YOU WANT THE TRUTH? YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!" Professor Dumbledore even hinted at a smile.  
  
(A/N: I don't think movie had come out yet… but oh well…)  
  
Late one Saturday evening in October, Lily and Sarah were walking through the halls plotting ways to get back at Sirius for making suits of armor in the castle come crashing down when ever they walked by, they came upon the three boys diligently polishing banisters.  
  
"What is this I see?" grinned Sarah, "James, Remus and Sirius actually doing their detention right?"  
  
"Don't think we're going to make a habit out of it," quirked Remus, "We're only doing this right so we can slide down these banisters later."  
  
Lily grinned at the thought of the boys flying down them. Sarah suddenly cracked an evil grin, and pulled Lily down the corridor to an empty classroom.  
  
"What if we dye the polish so it changes into a color besides the brown!" Sarah said.  
  
"It wouldn't work though," Lily replied thoughtfully, "They would see it and just dye it back, and besides, how would we ever dye it without them seeing it?"  
  
"Don't worry, I took all of that into consideration."  
  
Minutes later Sarah and Lily quickly ran giggling down the hallway to where the boys were slaving away.  
  
"What's up with you girls," grinned James.  
  
"Nothing, we're just happy people," said Sarah mysterious, a with another giggle they continued along at a fast pace.  
  
The boys, being extremely interested, quickly went down they way that the girls had came from. A walking for almost a full minute, and still hadn't seen anything of interest, turned around and walked back to the banister they were currently polishing. They would have kept going, but they hadn't yet become the famous Marauders that knew the castle inside and out, and had only just two mornings ago found their way down to the Great Hall without getting lost once. They didn't know that while they were away, the girls had charmed their polish to turn one of 256 colors, iafter it was dry/i.  
  
A/N I know I'm putting a lot of these so after this one I'll shut up but I just had to say that I know that the magic they are doing to each other is a little advanced for being in the second month of their first year.  
  
The next morning making their way down to the breakfast tables, Lily and Sarah were looking at the wonderful shades of colors that the banisters had turned, when a very peeved Professor McGonagall walked by followed by Remus, James, and Sirius, all protesting that they hadn't done it.  
  
"But really, it wasn't us!" said James.  
  
"If it wasn't you, then who was it?" asked McGonagall.  
  
Sirius, who at that time was just passing by a very delighted Lily and Sarah, said, "It was them! They were just mad at us for pulling some iharmless/i pranks on them!" Both Sarah and Lily snorted at the word harmless.  
  
"How do you consider trying to curse our toenails so they would grow at inhuman rates harmless?" sputtered Sarah.  
  
Sirius was about to reply when McGonagall cut in, "From the recently made statements, either parties could be guilty, so I will administer detentions to both groups, and call it even." In James', Remus', Sirius', Sarah's, and Lily's minds, it wasn't even. And so began the rivalry, that would last for years.  
  
*~*  
  
No this is not going to be a love/hate fic. Trust me. Anyway, I'll try and get chapters out quicker, but that just might not happen… PLEASE REVIEW!!! 


	5. Purple hair and Midnight Expeditions

Okay people, I kinda made Sarah and Lily really good friends without even saying it, so sorry bout that, and I was gone for a while on vacation, so I will try and get them up faster. Anyway, I actually made it to someone's favorite's list!!! PLEASE REVIEW!!! If you write fics, you know how bad it is to not get reviews, but if you don't, its really awful when no one reviews, so please just click the little button at the bottom of the screen!!!  
  
*~*  
  
Lily hopped out of the shower for the seventh time that morning. James, Sirius, and Remus decided that they needed to get even with the girls for ruining their detention fun, so they charmed the water faucet on the girls' showers so that the water came out blue. Lily's gorgeous deep red hair had been hit with it, and made it change to a deep purple. After the third shower it had started to lighten up.  
  
It was now a really deep red with only a tint of purpleness in it. As she headed downstairs to the common room to finish the homework that she had gotten for that weekend, she ran into Sarah.  
  
"Oh, good, you finally got the blue-purple stuff out of your hair. Was that your sixth shower?' questioned Sarah with a grin.  
  
"Nope, it was my seventh."  
  
"Oh. Well I was just trying to find you. I thought of some good ideas of getting back at the boys for doing that to our showers.." Said Sarah with one of the most evil grins ever.  
  
"You mean my shower." Corrected Lily.  
  
"It's not my fault you took the first shower this morning." replied Sarah.  
  
"So I thought that we could pour ink in their tea to turn their teeth a lovely shade of black." said Lily.  
  
"I don't know though," said Sarah, "That would be getting even, but is it enough?"  
  
"We can always think of something else to do." said Lily.  
  
"True." As she said this Sarah looked over to see what the boys were doing, all their heads wee stuck together so they were obviously plotting. "Look at them," said Sarah.  
  
"Who?"  
  
"The boys, who else?" said Sarah rolling her eyes.  
  
"Oh, yeah, sorry. What about them?" question Lily.  
  
"They're planning something." Sarah said looking like the very words she spoke would change the fate of the world. "We have to stop them!"  
  
"They aren't planning anything, they just pulled a prank this morning, remember!" Lily said, glaring at the boys in the process.  
  
"But they have to keep their edge, other wise we might pull ahead of them." retorted Sarah.  
  
"Fine, we can go try and listen to their conversation, but they are probably just talking about what ever guys talk about…" said a defeated Lily.  
  
(A/N What do guys talk about???)  
  
"Okay so remember tonight at eleven right here in the common room."  
  
"And don't forget to bring the cloak, James."  
  
"I'm not Peter, I won't forget."  
  
Sarah looked at Lily with an I-told-you-so look, and Lily just rolled her eyes. They were sitting behind the couch listening to the conversation, so far they didn't understand much, but they had little hope as the conversation was obviously over seeing how the boys and started to get up.  
  
Lily frantically looked around trying to find an excuse as to why they were sitting behind the couch. Sarah thought quicker and conjured up a chess board.  
  
"What are doing?" asked James as he stepped around the couch.  
  
"P-Playing chess" said Lily, who had never been very good at lying. (Hanging around with James in later years really helped her with that skill though.)  
  
James looked down at the chess board on which either one of them had yet to make a move. Raising an eyebrow he said sarcastically, "Yeah, and I'm ugly."  
  
(A/N Well he is egotistical)  
  
"That you are," said Lily with a grin.  
  
James rolled his eyes and walked away with Sirius, Remus, and Peter following behind him. "Do you think they heard?" James asked Sirius, his face clouded with worry.  
  
"I don't know, but we should probably continue on with our plans, we're not doing anything too serious." replied Sirius.  
  
"Yeah, besides," said Remus, " They weren't there halfway through the conversation when we had to go let Peter in through the portrait," reasoned Remus.  
  
"Oh, good then, since we discussed everything important at the beginning," said James, "Right now I'm glad Peter can never remember the password."  
  
"I'm not so convinced," said Sirius, "Even if they only heard a little of the conversation, they still know we are up to something."  
  
"Then we can just walk around tonight exploring the castle, so it won't be breaking as many rules." Said Remus.  
  
"And we have to watch out for them," squeaked Peter, "They could turn us in to one of the professors and we would get in lots of trouble."  
  
"If they tell anyone then they would get in trouble for being out of bed themselves, and everyone knows that they are always trying to get us in trouble." Said James.  
  
"So we don't even need to keep watch, if we have the cloak, we can practically do anything that we want to do." Said Remus with a evil grin.  
  
(A/N Is there anyone out there that is British, and wants to be my betareader??? I think my fics are too American… This isn't the end of the fic, but a lot of times people don't read the Authors Notes at the bottom of the page so I put it here…)  
  
"Quit stepping on my feet!"  
  
"Sorry!"  
  
"Ouch! That was my foot!"  
  
"Not my fault you take up to much room!"  
  
So went the conversation that was taking place underneath James' invisibility cloak. Later on it seemed as though the cloak grew. When they were seventeen they could fit all four of the marauders and Lily and Sarah under the cloak. It was a tight squeeze then, but never as tight as the first night out.  
  
"Wait, I think it's in here."  
  
"How would you know?"  
  
"I know all." Sirius said as he tickled the pear on a portrait of a bowl of fruit. "See, what'd I tell you?" grinned Sirius as he stepped through the hole in the wall where the portrait had been. The rest of the group followed as Lily and Sarah stepped out from behind the corner.  
  
"See, what'd I tell you?" whispered Sarah, grinning at Lily.  
  
"Yeah, yeah, just don't let it go to your head, or you'll end up like-"  
  
"Like who?" a voice said from behind them. 


	6. Sirius' Month

__

They are going to get through their first year in this chapter, because I think it is kinda hard to write in the perspective of younger people…(and because no crushes are taking place right now, and they won't until the end of 2nd of during 3rd year…)

"Like who?" said a voice from behind them.

Lily and Sarah whipped around and saw three smirking boys standing there behind them, James, Remus, and Peter, (Sirius was obviously still in the kitchen eating.)

"What are you doing here?" Lily spat out at them.

"We could ask you the same question," replied James.

"Yeah, well, I asked first, so answer."

"So? I asked second, now why are you out here?" asked James.

"Why would it matter to you?" asked Sarah.

"Mecouf un mbff," answered Sirius, walking up behind them, his mouth full of food.

"Come again?" said Sarah, looking rather annoyed.

"I said," said Sirius, swallowing his food, "Because he said."

"What does that have to do with anything?" asked Lily.

"Him saying something?" asked Remus.

"Who? James or Sirius?" asked a now confused Lily.

"No, Remus just asked, not James or Sirius," Put in Sarah, adding to the confusion.

"I didn't mean now," cried Lily, "I meant before."

"Before what?" asked Peter.

"I don't know! I can't remember!" yelled an exasperated Lily.

"What can't you remember?" asked James; rather amused by the state the girls were currently in.

"What it was before," Said Lily.

"What _what_ was before?" asked Peter.

"I don't know!" said Lily, trying to sort her mind out.

"So you don't know what the something was that was before another something, that you also don't know what it is?" asked Sirius with a grin, "Are you even sure it was before? Maybe it was actually afterwards."

Lily was about to reply but she was cutoff by Remus, who had been looking around, board with the conversation."

"Uh-oh."

"Huh?" asked five very confused people.

"We have trouble?" said a very worried Remus.

"What do you mean?" asked a suddenly solemn James.

"Look," Said Remus pointing over their shoulders. They turned around just in time to see a tail disappear. It was obviously Miss Bennett, Argus Flich's kitten known throughout the school as his personal spy. (In less then a year she would have a romance with a certain tomcat, renaming herself Mrs. Norris.)

It was if someone had fired a gun starting a race. Everybody took off running through the corridors, trying to find the quickest way out Flich's way. James was struck with an idea. He slowed almost to a stop, and started trying to pull open some draperies.

"What are you doing?" Asked an exasperated Lily.

"Well I figured," said James, darting in and out of the draperies, "That we have to go through draperies to get to the Gryffindor Common Room, and I doubt that all of the Founding Fathers and Founding Mothers were as creative as we would like them to have been, and so there must be some other hidden passageways in this school hidden behind draperies."

__

(A/N Is that an actual term (Founding Mothers)? Moreover, does the term Founding Fathers only apply to the writers of the American Constitution? (Around that time anyway?))

Sirius suddenly put on a wide grin as he stepped through the draperies to the secret passageway that James had found. "You know what?"

"What" asked Sarah with a groan, hoping that it wasn't another one of Sirius' lame jokes.

"If all of us try as hard as we can, we can probably find more secret passageways in this school, then even Filch won't be able to find us," Said Sirius, the smile never leaving his face. "We could be able to rule the school!"

"Yes, Your Worship," Said Sarah with a hint of sarcasm.

"For some strange reason, I doubt I'm getting all the respect I deserve."

"And what respect is it that you deserve?" asked James with a grin.

"All respect of course," Said Sirius, "I should have a parade held in my honor, or a month dedicated to me," (In his mind a day named after him wasn't anything special, he wanted a month, not a year, because they come and go, but months happen every year.) "Or," continued Sirius, " I should get a star named after me…"

Before they knew it Christmas Break was upon them, and it was time to go home, and the planning of the exploring the castle had been put on hold for a while. Lily received many wondrous things, including magical items from Sarah, but no present from any of the boys, but then again, she hadn't sent them one either. Lily and Petunia spent the entire vacation catching up on gossip, and Lily showing Petunia some of the magic she had learned. Sirius was the only one that had stayed back at the castle, and that was because his relatives were coming to visit at his house, and his cousins were to afraid of him and his pranks so he couldn't come home, but he received many presents from his family, and had fun terrorizing the grounds alone. They all arrived back at school on January 4th literally with a bang. James and Remus had added dungbombs to the pile of coal in the engine room, and charmed the whistle so that whenever it was blown, Filibuster Fireworks were set off. (They had some left over after the trip and let them of during dinner that night.)

James returned from break with a huge smile on his face. He had found out that it was actually possible to balance your mother's best china on your head without it falling off, but only for three seconds, and when you get done doing that, you get grounded for three years.

Soon after they all arrived back from the break, they were forced to start studying for year-end-exams. Lily had excelled in Charms, and was second in her class to a Ravenclaw. James was leading the class in Transfiguration, a position he would hold the whole seven years at Hogwarts. Remus was second in Transfiguration, and would spend his seven years at Hogwarts desperately trying to beat James. Sirius got third in Defense Against the Dark Arts. None of them came close at potions, except Sarah who had strangely taken first in that class. They all helped each other study, even Sirius, even though he spent most of his time trying to find the secret passages that had promised to give him a month named after him.

The rest of the year flew by and before they knew it, the End of Year feast was there and trunks were packed. The halls were filled with seventh years crying over their last year at Hogwarts. The sixth years were also suddenly realizing that they only had one year left at Hogwarts, and they wanted to make it last forever. The first years thought that those years were miles off, and they were, but the years would seem to melt away before their eyes.

The winner of the House Championships for the most House points was Ravenclaw. The Transfiguration professor seemed to give out points every time somebody got the right answer, and Ravenclaws were known for excelling in that area. The Slytherins had won the Quidditch Cup, a position that they had held for years because of the Captain, Michael McHonly, who was the best Chaser Hogwarts had ever seen. He was a sixth year so he had one more year left of leading the team, but his younger brother, Edward was a first year, and was training to follow in his older brother's footsteps.

The next day the students loaded up onto the Hogwarts express, and headed home.

"Bye Lily!" yelled the four future marauders in perfect unison, "Bye Sarah!"

Both of the girls waved good-bye to the boys, as they were in the middle of their own good-bye.

"And I promise I will owl every single day," said Sarah as she was being pulled away by her older brother, "And you have to come visit me this summer!"

"I'll try and convince my mom to let me go, okay?" Lily yelled back, as she was ushered into a waiting taxi by her mother.

"How was your year, sweetie?" her mum asked her, "Did you have a good time?"

"Yeah," Lily said with a breath of excitement, "It was wonderful. Hogwarts isn't just a school! It's a castle! We got to have Potions in the Dungeons and Astronomy in the highest tower! Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures are outside, and next year we get to go into the Forbidden Forest for Defensive Against the Dark Arts! I don't think anybody is stupid enough to go in there alone. Well, maybe some of the professors, but they are trained. And this sum-"

"That's enough dear," Lily's mum said, "You don't need to get it all out in one breath.

"Sorry," said Lily still glowing from the train ride. She looked up to the front seat, and saw the taxi driver giving her weird looks. She stuck out her tongue, and turned back to her mum. "Where's Dad and Petunia?"

"Well, Dad went to pick Petunia up at her train, and they weren't back by the time that I had to leave, but I'm sure they'll meet us at home, dear," her mum said.

"Okay, then," replied Lily, as they pulled into their driveway. "Mum?"

"Yes, dear?"

"Can I go over to one of my friend's house this summer."

"We'll see sweetie."

"Okay, Mum."

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Okay next chapter is summer. Anyway, please review.


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